Little Harbor in Normandy

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Date:

spring 1909

Artist:

Georges BraqueFrench, 1882–1963

About this artwork

In early 1908, Georges Braque began an artistic collaboration with Pablo Picasso. From 1909 until Braque was mobilized for World War I, they worked in creative dialogue, breaking down and reformulating the representation of objects and their structure. In doing so, they pioneered one of the most radical artistic revolutions of the twentieth century, Cubism. Little Harbor in Normandy is the first fully realized example of Braque’s early Cubist style. He described the English Channel coast in severe geometries and a sober palette, reduced in range and intensity to pale shades of color. His compressed treatment of space and use of a shifting perspective seems to propel the two sailboats forward to the front edges of the picture. To further energize the scene, the artist added a fringe of whitecaps to the sea and dashes of clouds across the sky. His repetitive, striated modeling of form, inspired by his study of the art of Paul Cézanne, increased the rigid tension of this canvas. Documentation suggests that Little Harbor in Normandy was exhibited in Paris in March 1909 at the Salon des Indépendants, making this painting the first major Cubist work to be shown in such a prominent venue.

Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, acquired directly from the artist, 1909 to before 1914 [Kahnweiler photo no. 1002 and London 1983]. Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin, Paris and London, by 1921 to at least 1936 [according to Apollinaire 1921 and Barr 1936]. Mme. Albrecht v. Mendelssohn-Bartholdi (neé Dora Wach), London, by 1936 [London 1983]. Buchholz Gallery, New York by 1938 to 1939 [London 1983 and letter June 4, 1975 from William Mayglothling in curatorial file]; sold by the gallery to Walter P. Chrysler, New York and Warrenton, Va., 1939 to 1968 [letter mentioned above and Mullins 1968]; sold by him to Eugene V. Thaw & Co., New York 1967 to 1969 [London 1983]; sold by the gallery to the Art Institute, 1969.

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